raptly and numerous, num rougs reports of possible tornadoes. tornadoes touched down in lebanon, indiana. it's not very densely populated. but, nonetheless, this is such a broad system and its impact has been great. we started out earlier in the day. and chicago, where at the chicago bear's game, soldier field, they were letting people evacuate the stadium until the seve severe weather was over. now we've got reports of confirmed, large tornadoes in morganfield, kentucky, scholls, indiana. those coming from the storm chasers that you spoke with just a few minutes ago, fredericka. also, pecan in missouri. this is one of the suburbs out

of pioria. it looks as if from what we can tell from the tracks of this, with downed trees, the downed power lines and the major, structural damage is that a tornado apparently moved from pecan to the southern or southeastern suburbs and then towards washington, indiana. and there you can better believe that the people here are in stunned silence because of the spoke of this fierce weather system that is now responsible for some 54 reports of tornadoes. some of those confirmed, some, the national weather service, the local, national weather service will have to go out and e evaluate. when you see things that have completely washed a clean slate, nothing left, then you might say those are ef-5 tornadoes.

the storm chaser that you spoke with earlier, fredericka, he saw this large tornado on the ground. there are a number of tornado warnings that will continue -- typically, they last about 30 min you wanteds or so. still, all the way from south bend, indiana. >> in this case, indianapolis gets hit with some of the cities we've been talking about.

chicago, the last we spoke with the emergency management o fishl, wile they're not saying they're completely out of the woods, they were able to say that the skies were starting to clooer up a little bit. the conditions are favorable for tornadoic activity. but warnings are the most compelling that we have to pay attention to. here's where they are coming from. all the way to the east of st. louis. in the vicinity of cape gerardo, missouri. now, they're pushing into indiana and kentucky. most possibly next, in the line of fire, will be eastern

indiana, ohio, northern kentucky and possibly into tennessee. we've had some severe storms coming out of michigan, fred. >> now, these images, right here understand, are coming from st. louis, missouri. you talked about that area, also, being sublted to some severe weather. and we're already seeing it happen from these images. >> most of the tornado watches are to the east right now. but certainly, as it moved very rapidly towards the ooegs, in its wake, you'll start to see those winds. them be gusting up to 50, 60 miles an hour. even behind the storm system, temperatures are going to be much cooler, like in shi ska goe.

>> i don't know if these are live pictures or not -- >> yes. >> all right, hold on, karen. we're going to go with patty thompson, a commune kaxs manager for the illinois emergency management agency joining us by phone from springfield, illinois. >> give me an idea of what you are assessing, what communityin communityings may have been impacted. >> well, at this time, we have confirmation of touchdown in six counties. and those are actually fairly dispursed throughout the southern tip of illinois. but we amgs have four other counties that have some reported

damage. we don't know if those are wind damage yet. >> when you say there are reports of touchdowns wharks is the need? how do you get to them? what do you do first? >> we have been watching the storm system for the last couple days. we're in contact with the weather service. we're prepared to send any equipment or personnel that they might need to respond and to recover from this situation and disaster. we are in contact with the management agency with staff to the washington area. it was one of the hardest-hit

areas so far. >> we're looking at live pictures from potential damage out of that washington, illinois area. >> we're seeing the storm as it's happening there. and then when we look at the debris out of that washington, illinois area, we're seeing cars that have been flipped over. we're seeing what appeared to be structured, purely decimated. >> do you know anything about te fatalities? >> at this point, we're still trying to get as much information as possible from the washington area. i don't have any confirmed

information on any injuries, or any fatalities in that area. however, we did have one rort from the southern part of our state down in nashville, which is in washington county. in the southern mart of our state. >> for people who are near this area that has been aparentally def stated, people who want to go in and help, what advice would you give to them sn. >> we usually recommend that people not spontaneously deploy themselves to an air ya where they have so much damage and

they have so much damage that having more people in the area could be problematic. they should be checking to see if there are voluntary agencies looking for assistance. >> patty thompson, thanks, all the best, we'll keep in touch. we're going to take a short break and have much more of this severe weather system after this. this. great. this is the last thing i need.) seriously? the last thing you need is some guy giving you a new catalytic converter when all you got is a loose gas cap. what? it is that simple sometimes. thanks. now let's take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good 'ol midas touch. hey you know what? i'll drive! and i have no feet... i really didn't think this through. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

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tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. we continue to watch the severe weather system moving across some 26 u.s. states. we've shown you pictures of images from storm chasers to indiana to damage in illinois in a town called washington, illinois. we recently spoke with the illinois department of emergency management. it does appear as though a

tornado touched down there. overall, the storm prediction center is actually reporting that 48 tornado reports have 98 damaging wind reports. six reports of winds in hurricane force in many of these locations. some of the greatest damage we're seeing in illinois. so a great swath of the country being hit by tornadoic activity as well as just simply severe weather activity. hail has been brought to some places, damaging winds, of course. an ominous, dark clouds. you're seeing some of the images from storm chasers on the ground. many of them in illinois. >> so joining us right now out of indiana, he is outside of advance indiana.

i'll tell you, give us an idea of who you're seeing. you said earlier, you're not far from lebanon, indiana. >> i am actually in the town of lebanon. they did sustain a hit from that tornado. there was dang to a starbucks, a vehicle, and flipped in the parking lot. we haven't seen any other damage outside of that little strip mall there, but witnesses in the wendy's said they were evacuating right across the street. >> what about it appeared in that corner. we saw that earlier with the st starbucks sign and the mini van

toppled to its side. >> just a couple of people i have spoken with. i haven't heard any injury. i don't know if it was in the car. looks like the starbucks got blown in. all the windows on the front of the star were blown in. the strip mall behind starbuckings, seemed to be in pretty good shape. we're seeing if there's any other damage in town. we were able to confirm that on the ground when it came through lebanon. >> what else were you able to see along the way? what have you been witnessing? >> we've seen storms from illinois all the way to indiana. they've been moving so fast today.

we were just skipping from storm-to-storm. and baseball-sized hail we also encountered there. very active, indeed. we've heard how unusual it is to have this kind of activity, severe weather, tornadic activity. how are you keeping yourself safe through all of this? >> well, we're very well-informed. we know they're moving fast. we have not been able to see any tornadoes today as a result of that. fwu we've been safe. and we've been able to stay ahead. like i said, we cost the last tornado in lebanon from the west looking east.

>> and in lebanon, are you seeing any kind of effort to assist people? assess the damage? anything like that happening this early in the game. >> they actually asked us not to leave too long ago. like i said, i didn't see any ambulances or active rescue on going. everybody i talked to in the area seemed to be in prosecutety good shach. >> fortunately, i think most people took the warnings. stwl we're going to have much more of this storm that is bring very dangerous winds, lottings of hail, putting a lot of people's lives in danger. we'll be right back. it's the little things in life that make me smile.

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welcome back, i'm fredericka whitfield. we're following breaking news of severe weather in the midwest. the national weather service says there are reports of 48 tornadoes in the midwest and south. there are 98 reports of damaging wind and 28 reports of hail.

and we just got confirmation that one person was killed in the illinois storms. all told, the severe weather is threatening 129 million people across 26 statings. people in pecan illinois were shocked to find this. they actually got photos of the damage and i talked to jack galance who was in the middle of the storm. >> i actually came down and i saw sirens and lights and me and a couple friends ran down there and we saw trees down, we saw houses with the roofs completely torn off, power lines down, there's a huge cloud, a huge storm cloud. when i was there, it wasn't ef enthe worst of what happened. i'm sure there's more trees down. the winds are very strong right now.

and it's not really safe right w. what i saw was a lot of people disstre disstressed and their homes destroyed. so the immaterialagin images th people's houses. does it appear to you that there were any injuries. >> it was mostly just heads down and people really worry about each other. neighbors were outside. helping clean up. i saw people with chain saws trying to kuch branchs off their roofs. everyone was really helping each other. that was a good part of it.

>> and what are you doing to stay safe? how is the weather looking in your view? >> i'm staying at my house right now. >> there's a nearby town, washington, illinois. their town got completely levelled. >> i'll probably go help people tomorrow clean up for anything that they need. >> that was jack lance, a resident there. ♪

♪ ♪

a severe weather system bringing hail, wind, dark clouds

and, in some cases, tornadoes now threatening some 26 states. our meteorologist kerry mcguinness is tracking from the severe weather center. where is this storm? >> it's very difficult to keep up with all of them. we've got a team of meet yorologists in the weather center. we've seen pllottings of tornad reportings. now, local national weather service will go it and evaluate it. it could be one creme that touches down in several different areas. and i'll give you an example of that.

here is pioria, illinois. this is pecan. also, we have reports coming out of pioria, a quite of bit of structural damage there. what i think happened is that a super-cell moved across pecan, the suburbs of prioria and up towards washington. it may have tuched dound in pecan and then it may have touched down in washington. or it may have stayed on the ground for that length of time. we just don't know. right now, all the way from ff. wayne to munci to ind nan lis. there are eight states that have tornado watches out. the entire state of michigan e tending all the way down into tennessee. we'll watch this march over the

east oempb the next few hours. here we go. those are the tornado watches. where you see the purple images, that's where we have the tornado warning. we had a report coming out of lebanon that was in to southern ind ja that. that the storm chasers spotted a large tornado on the ground there. and it's moving very quickly to the east, northeast at just about 50-60 miles an hour. a number of platss reporting flight delays, flight

cancellations, take a look at these pictures out of the storm chasers. and this, you can see, clearly indicating the dark clouds and some of the super-cells that are moving across this region are producing at times brief tornado touchdowns. and, other times, we're getting reports, fred, of these very large tornados. we had a report of a 69 mile an hour wind dwus. gust. in new york, liguardia and j.f.k., already, some delays skppted there. also extending into atlanta. there's low visibility. as we go into the late day sunday traffic, people trying to get back to where they work or

going to work, it's going to be very problematic. i'm not exactly sure -- >> when i first saw these images, i thought those look like hurricane force winds. i come to find out in some cases, there have been reports of hurricane-force winds where the system has passed through. not sure if it looks like 75 mile ant hour winds there. >> winds like this are capable of bringing down tree limbs, trees. there's a particular gust there. all it takes is a high-pro file vehicle that we have seem some of the trucks, the semis. >> these are live images right now. look how dark. and this is another important point, fred. i want to mention this. and that is a lot of these tornadoes are rain-wrapped, mean p. >> what is that? >> meaning that you're not seeing sun sign behind them. there is rain and the super

cell, the tornado actuallily is engulfed in this ring. so you can't see it. it's late in the day. the sun is setting earlier. as ewe c as you can see, you wouldn't know there was a tornado in your area. to see if there was a tornado warning issued in your area, these tornadoes are going to be rain-wrap and you won't even see them. so don't assume that you'll be safe. >> isn't it amazing that we saw a portion of a skyline and now we see nothing. >> yes, and that's the other thing. even if it's not tornadoic, you will see high winds that will tip over vehicles. hail. we've seen a numb bier of reports of very heavy rainfall extending all the way from michigan near grand rapids, and

i also mentioned at purdue university, they had a report of a 69 mile an hur wind gust. hail, heavy windfall. it could be rain-wrapd. if a warning is issued, you need to take cover immediately. >> karen, we talked earlier about chicago. you mentioned it was a thunderstorm warning. it was dangerous and threatening enough that soldier field was evacuated in the middle of a bears-ravens game. and all of thoeds attending that game had to go to a safe area there in the stadium. and you see folks right there.

george howell was in chicago. where are you? what's the experience? last we spoke, you were starting to see blue skies again, sunshine? what's happening. just that quickly, we lost the signal. i don't know if that's an indication of the weather they're experiencing. we'll have much more on "the news room" right after this. ♪

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turning dreamers into business owners. life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. following breaking news, 28 reports of hail and 98 reports of damaging wind. we just got confirmation that one person was killed in the illinois storm. let's go to chicago. i'll try to connect, once again, with george howell joining us on the phone.

earlier, we talked about how soldier field was evacuated. where are you? >> we are just south of soldier field. >> we're not quite out of the woods yet. we've got these strong winds, a high-wind warning for is this area that is still on going. and we're watching, you know, as the straight line winds come through, the wind gusts pick up from time-to-time.

>> you get a sense of how strong these wind gusts are: >> lots of wind busts. the reason bhie they had to suspend -- temporarily suspend that game at soldier field was in large part because that thunderstorm, a threatening thunderstorm and because of the threat of a tornado. >> right, right. it oes one of those things, 60,000 people. you come to chicago, you watch the fairs you tailgate. but got right now. and the other thing, you know, both major airports, midway and o'hare. at one point, for about an hour, we're at a ground stop.

we understand that flights have renewed here in chicago. we are still watching as these winds push through this area. >> thank you so much for keeping us posted out of chicago. much more on the severe weather system threatening 26 u.s. states right after this. seriously? let's take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good 'ol midas touch. hey you know what? i'll drive! i really didn't think this through. brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits

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welcome back, live pictures now of indianapolis. here it is, 3:44 local time. nothing like what we saw 30 minutes ago when this very live shot went dark just in a matter of minutes. you didn't see a thing as the storm chasers system moved in. it kind of took over the skies there bringing in a lot of rain,as well. we heard karen mcguinness talk about how a lot of this system, some of the tornado activity has been rain hfl wrapped. unclear if it did touch down in indianapolis. this weather system has really wreaked havoc in 26 u.s. states.

you see it happening right there as you watched live. you see the skyline and then, all of the sudden, you do not. that was about roughly 30 minutes ago. now, you can see the skyline. the worst part of that system, seemingly, has passed. but, of course, you can still see that there's rain. they're taking place engulfing that city. >> so the severe weather, including chicago, caused a two-hour delay. earlier, i spoke to a fan who said the weather was r was perfect. and then suddenly, that storm moved in. >> you evacuated?

>> we got here at noon, it was perfect. about 20 minutes later, the rain started coming. the wind was insane. >> were you scared at that point? >> my daughter was terrified. i was concerned about her. but we've been totally safe the whole time. >> and then, when they evacwalted you and the hundreds of others who were there, you know, packing soldier field, where did you go? have you ever experienced anything at soldier field like that before? did you know where you were being directed? >> we'd never been involved with anything like this. i'd been in a plot of bears games. never anything like this. the winds gusted at 70 miles per

hour. everybody was running for the kits. it was just crazy an hour ago. all because of a severe weather storm. and, as far as we know, the bears-ravens game is now underway. we spoke with someone about the ground stop at o'hare and midway airports. karen pride was with us. both of those airports shut down, temporarily. and have since reopen. but delays are still taking place there. here's her perspective. >> actually, there are are flights going in and out. now, the weather has moved through enough so that airlines are now able to get some of

their flight operations back on track. >> and what are you telling people, karen? folks who plan to travel through chicago or midway, folks who are perhaps trying to get on the planes or even people who are there in airport? >> well, people there are trying to rebook their flights or do whatever they need to do oar make other arrangements. what we tell people every day of the yore, check the airlines probably through the web site. and then get to the airport in a safe manner. >> see soldier field you can get there at least two hours in advance.

give urs yourself enough time to get to the airport. >> that was karen pride who had immediate relations with the airport in chicago. we'll have much more on thewet ere system right after this. new brakes help you stop faster and safer.

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we're watching the severe weather system that is sweeping across a good portion of the nation, a third of the nation being impacted. we'll be bringing you the latest nfts and developments of this mass ifr storm passing through the the midwest and the south throughout the evening. and more on this storm. let eets go now to mimi spsz argas. she is actually the wife of major gym artis. while pioria wasn't hit directly, the nearby city of

washington was. thanks so much for pg with us. want have you heard about how washington illinois is doing? how the people there have gotten through this -- what's believed to be a tor gnaw doe. it's pretty massively damaged in certain areas. i heard they just closed 24. you can be the get into washington now. we just went over there with my mom and got her out. it's pretty devastating. i don't know what it's going to take. you see pictures like that and you can't imagine it up till you've seen it. it's the whole neighborhoods that are totally, completely gone. >> you talked about getting your mom out. what did your mom experience

there? she's mobile and she's doing really well. it's kind of the back part of the basement you can see. but in the front, you can't tell. so her basement was very protected. she did not get to her basemented. when you walk in the front door, she has a little bench there and she was sitting on that bench. all walls completely around here, except the middle one, were gone. and when you look in, you know, when you're looking at the front of the house, you can look all the way through. there's the bench that she was sitting on. >> it was really stressful. my brother from springfield call us and said that his whole

neighborhood was completely gone. so my mom didn't live that far away. we were in a class today, my husband and son were. we knew there was a tornado warning, but we didn't know there was an actual tornado. so we kind of decided just to go over there and make sure she was okay not knowing anything because we couldn't get ahold of her. on the way to washington, it looked fine until you got -- they closed the main street because of the damage. and going into my mom's neighborhood the back way, you turn the corner and it was complete devastation. >> you had to be panic-stricken. >> oh my gosh, i hope she's okay. >> we pulled up to her street and she was standing out in her front yard looking at hr house.

it was so scary. i don't know how to describe it. it's awful. it's complete devastation. >> it is. it sounds awful. it's still unclear how many people may have been injured with what many believe to be a tornado. what a close call. we saw the images earlier of the devastation. thank you so much for joining us, the wife of the hay yor. hearing that story about that close call. again, a confirmation still has to come from the national weather service, right? >> yes, but i'm fairly sure they're going to say it was a tornado.

wl let's run down what we saw today. they had wind gusts around the chicago area. 86 miles an hour. they were under a severe thunderstorm watch when they wanted people to leave the stands. and then where he go down towards missouri. we had reports of cars flipped over, also mobile homes flipped over. we also have seen some severe weather reports. moes of that weather is moved from the east. in the vicinity, greenville,

kentucky, there was a report of a tornado on the ground. bedeent know if there's been damage or injuries. fred, just at the top of the hour, we'll give you some more nfrgs. >> again, we're going to take this coverage right into the evening. extraordinary, 26 states impacted. my colleague, don lemon is going to take it from here. don, as a former chicagoan, you know this part of the country very well. hello, everyone.

we're going to get right to it. make sure you stay put and watch. a lot of news to cover chblgt it's big, weather-breaking news in the upper midwest. powerful storms in just the past few hours. take a look at some amateur video of the twister hammering washington. illinois, look at this. washington, illinois, a small town of about 10,000 people. and as you can see, nothing was left standing. at least 26 states are now in the path of the system. >> so that is what it looked like blowing through st. louis. even without it,